I've never been a single man. Knifewise that is.
I guess my knife life started when dad gave me a scout knife on my 12th birthday, on the occasion when I joined the local scout troop. To me, that 4 blade/tool knife became what I thought of as the ultimate pocket knife. Certainly it was versatile, and it was certainly the knife that was the "Official" knife of our organization. It was described in the Official Boy Scout manual as THE knife for all scouts. And last but not least, our leader, Mr. Van carried one, a Remington no less, on his belt dangling from the "Official' belt attachment. That was good enough for us.
When I joined the army, I guess it was natural that I just switched to the army issue ML-K knife for my edc. The supply room had a whole box of them, as well as the TL-29's. So for most of my army time I still was a 4 blade/tool carrier. Toward the end of my army time, I bought a 3 blade Buck stockman a the PX, and since I had a P-38 on my keychain, I didn't need a screw driver and can opener on my knife, so I had the choice of three different knife blades. A little different, but nice. This situation lasted for about 25 years.
Then out of bad times some good comes. When my dad passed away from hodgkins disease at the age of 71, his little peanut ended up living in the tray of stuff on top of my dresser. It sat there for quite some time, getting handled once in a while for old times sake. But one day, I'm not sure why, I dropped it in my pocket and off to work it went with me. Maybe for some feeling of sentiment. But it ended up used for small cutting jobs, and I marveled at the sharp little blade going through gasket material, tape, plastic blister packaging. Gradually, very gradually, a dawning came over me that I didn't really need three blades on a knife to get through the day. And the fact dawned on me that I didn 't need as much knife as I thought. Dad's little knife rode in my pocket and took care of the many cutting jobs that came up. Afraid of loosing or damaging the little family artifact, I did the next thing in my step of evolution: I bought a peanut. A yella peanut.
This knife eventually kicked all other out of my pocket, and I got used to having two knife blades on hand. Two knife blades seemed enough for anyone, I thought. But fate was not done with me.
In a local backpacking store while purchasing some supplies, I ran across a container up by the cash register of strange wood handled knives from France. A rotating ring locked the blade, but the selling point was the insane light weight for the size of knife. I bought my very first Opinel in 1982. Only a single blade, but I liked it for the weird old school funckyness that always appealed to me with Vespa motor scooters and VW bugs. Of course, being a lightweight knife, and only a single blade, I didn't fully trust them, but carried it as a "backup" or auxiliary knife. In time, I came to admire the knife, and my trust grew. Slowly, about the speed of a glacier, I grew to appreciate the single blade knife.
This situation kept up for the next decade to two, but then I experimented with the sodbuster, which I liked for the more rugged construction and no swelling issued when wet. Case, Eye-Brand, Herters, Klass, I tried all kinds of sodbusters, but still had a peanut in my pocket incase I needed more blades. Then fate struck again. I found this place, and the generous people on it, to include a gentleman from Sardinia. Posting photo's of gorgeous Resolza's, it was time and fate that I ended up getting a real Sardinian horn handled Resolza. I loved it soon as my hand curled around the smooth graceful shaped horn. Loved the way the flat ground blade sliced through food items.
Little by little, a process that only came to fruit this past year, I came to realize that the single blade knife is a great knife. My experiments with Opinel's of removing the locking ring and using them as strictly friction folders, convinced me that I could walk out my door in the morning with only a single blade knife in my pocket, and the space time continuum would not tear asunder, nor would the earth tilt out of it's orbit. I started to go about my day with a resolza or Opinel in my pocket, and life went on. I started to really like how a single blade knife with a well shaped handle felt in hand while using it.
Then Dan, AKA as silenthunterstudios, gifted me a GEC number 15, and fate was sealed. Another example of how nice a single blade knife is in hand. Smooth ebony was like the horn of the resolza. Warm, natural feeling. The GEC gave a blade of nice 109 that got as sharp as my Opinel or resolza, in a trim packable package. Now I came to realize that two of my three regular edc carry knives are single blade knives. A radical change for an old multi blade man. Now I pick up a stockman or three layer SAK, band it feels like a brick. I've become a single man!
I guess my knife life started when dad gave me a scout knife on my 12th birthday, on the occasion when I joined the local scout troop. To me, that 4 blade/tool knife became what I thought of as the ultimate pocket knife. Certainly it was versatile, and it was certainly the knife that was the "Official" knife of our organization. It was described in the Official Boy Scout manual as THE knife for all scouts. And last but not least, our leader, Mr. Van carried one, a Remington no less, on his belt dangling from the "Official' belt attachment. That was good enough for us.
When I joined the army, I guess it was natural that I just switched to the army issue ML-K knife for my edc. The supply room had a whole box of them, as well as the TL-29's. So for most of my army time I still was a 4 blade/tool carrier. Toward the end of my army time, I bought a 3 blade Buck stockman a the PX, and since I had a P-38 on my keychain, I didn't need a screw driver and can opener on my knife, so I had the choice of three different knife blades. A little different, but nice. This situation lasted for about 25 years.
Then out of bad times some good comes. When my dad passed away from hodgkins disease at the age of 71, his little peanut ended up living in the tray of stuff on top of my dresser. It sat there for quite some time, getting handled once in a while for old times sake. But one day, I'm not sure why, I dropped it in my pocket and off to work it went with me. Maybe for some feeling of sentiment. But it ended up used for small cutting jobs, and I marveled at the sharp little blade going through gasket material, tape, plastic blister packaging. Gradually, very gradually, a dawning came over me that I didn't really need three blades on a knife to get through the day. And the fact dawned on me that I didn 't need as much knife as I thought. Dad's little knife rode in my pocket and took care of the many cutting jobs that came up. Afraid of loosing or damaging the little family artifact, I did the next thing in my step of evolution: I bought a peanut. A yella peanut.
This knife eventually kicked all other out of my pocket, and I got used to having two knife blades on hand. Two knife blades seemed enough for anyone, I thought. But fate was not done with me.
In a local backpacking store while purchasing some supplies, I ran across a container up by the cash register of strange wood handled knives from France. A rotating ring locked the blade, but the selling point was the insane light weight for the size of knife. I bought my very first Opinel in 1982. Only a single blade, but I liked it for the weird old school funckyness that always appealed to me with Vespa motor scooters and VW bugs. Of course, being a lightweight knife, and only a single blade, I didn't fully trust them, but carried it as a "backup" or auxiliary knife. In time, I came to admire the knife, and my trust grew. Slowly, about the speed of a glacier, I grew to appreciate the single blade knife.
This situation kept up for the next decade to two, but then I experimented with the sodbuster, which I liked for the more rugged construction and no swelling issued when wet. Case, Eye-Brand, Herters, Klass, I tried all kinds of sodbusters, but still had a peanut in my pocket incase I needed more blades. Then fate struck again. I found this place, and the generous people on it, to include a gentleman from Sardinia. Posting photo's of gorgeous Resolza's, it was time and fate that I ended up getting a real Sardinian horn handled Resolza. I loved it soon as my hand curled around the smooth graceful shaped horn. Loved the way the flat ground blade sliced through food items.
Little by little, a process that only came to fruit this past year, I came to realize that the single blade knife is a great knife. My experiments with Opinel's of removing the locking ring and using them as strictly friction folders, convinced me that I could walk out my door in the morning with only a single blade knife in my pocket, and the space time continuum would not tear asunder, nor would the earth tilt out of it's orbit. I started to go about my day with a resolza or Opinel in my pocket, and life went on. I started to really like how a single blade knife with a well shaped handle felt in hand while using it.
Then Dan, AKA as silenthunterstudios, gifted me a GEC number 15, and fate was sealed. Another example of how nice a single blade knife is in hand. Smooth ebony was like the horn of the resolza. Warm, natural feeling. The GEC gave a blade of nice 109 that got as sharp as my Opinel or resolza, in a trim packable package. Now I came to realize that two of my three regular edc carry knives are single blade knives. A radical change for an old multi blade man. Now I pick up a stockman or three layer SAK, band it feels like a brick. I've become a single man!
I got interested in a 2 bladed American Traditional; the Peanut.
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